WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈
Chapter 20: Can't Even Drink Cold Water
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“Even though you tried to talk things out nicely, Uncle tried to use violence twice. Do you know how scared I was?”
“Uh... was that so?”
It was true that Park Seongtae had come at me twice. But surely she had not missed me smashing his head into the doorframe.
“Don't do that again. I was so nervous I could barely watch.”
Yerim grumbled. Had there been anything to be nervous about just now? It had been completely one-sided. Was something wrong with her eyes?
“...Anyway, things are settled, so pack your things and come out.”
“Okay~”
Yerim passed me and entered through the front door. In the meantime, Park Seongtae had gotten up with his wife's help. Yerim's brow creased slightly when she saw him.
“Really, Uncle, you should be more careful. You went and fell because you missed your footing.”
At her calm voice, Park Seongtae and his wife stared blankly. I was a little surprised as well. I had used that excuse, but...
“Y-You! Didn't you see what happened just now?!”
Yerim shrugged at Park Seongtae's aggrieved cry.
“I did see it, which is why I'm saying that. Or should I falsely accuse our mister instead?”
“What? Falsely accuse him?!”
“Yerim, what kind of way is that to speak!”
“What is it, Aunt? You saw Uncle trip over his own feet and hit his head too.”
Park Seongtae and his wife looked speechless at her cold words. What should I do? Leave her alone or stop her?
“How can you say that? Look at the blood coming from your uncle's head! That man earlier...”
“Aunt.”
Her voice became even colder.
“Uncle missed his footing.”
“N-No...”
“You keep lying. I've said enough for you to understand.”
Yerim took an expensive long umbrella from the umbrella stand. Park Seongtae and his wife flinched reflexively.
“I once said I needed a sturdy umbrella like Suchan's too. Do you remember? When the typhoon came last year, the plastic umbrella you gave me turned inside out and broke. But you said you couldn't give me another umbrella, that breaking it was my responsibility, so I spent the entire rainy season wearing big plastic bags over my head.”
...That had happened too? Wasn't that abuse?
“I don't care much about that anymore. There were plenty of other things too, but I decided to let them go. They're not worth caring about anymore. They're too insignificant.”
Her pale, delicate hands held the long umbrella horizontally.
“Remember this. It's because you're insignificant. So stay insignificant, just like this. If you don't, and you try to pick a fight with our mister over him falling down by himself...”
Crack.
The umbrella folded in half. A strong adult man could probably do that much. But then the folded umbrella bent again.
Crackkk.
It crumpled as though it had been crushed in a giant press. Perhaps it was because we were standing in an apartment entryway, but even knowing she was an Awakened, the sight of her delicate hands crushing an umbrella as if it were a lump of modeling clay felt unreal.
If I was like this to them, she would be even worse.
Thump.
The shapelessly crumpled ball was tossed lightly away.
Park Seongtae and his wife could not take their eyes off it as it rolled across the floor.
“So... um, I won't let you get away with it.”
Yerim finished awkwardly. She apparently could not think of a suitably threatening way to end it. Still, it would be more than effective on that couple.
Yerim turned to me and gave a little “ehehe” laugh.
“This is harder than I thought. But it was okay, right?”
Okay or not, had she copied me? She had similarly insisted that he fell on his own, pretended to settle matters nicely with words, shown a little strength, and then said she would overlook the past if they lived quietly.
...This must be why they say you cannot even drink cold water in front of children. That old saying was right after all.
“...I thought you said you were nice.”
“Oh, mister. If you act nice here, you are not nice. You are just a pushover.”
That was not wrong. Besides, if she was going to live as a combat Hunter, it was better for her to have a hard edge than be soft.
I nodded vaguely and glanced at Park Seongtae and his wife. They looked completely stunned. They should have treated the kid better. Still, considering what they had done, they would keep all their limbs, gain money, and suffer no serious consequences. Had they accumulated a lot of good karma in a past life?
“Let's leave it at that and go. Do you have much to pack? Want help?”
“No, there isn't much. It would be better to buy new clothes anyway.”
My gaze fell on her old sneakers again. Come to think of it, she was wearing a tracksuit too.
“I'll buy you a new pair of shoes. Ones that fit properly.”
Yerim beamed. It was a pretty smile without a single crease.
“Isn't that too much for you? Your salary is still zero.”
She stabbed me right through the heart with a smile.
“I told you, I have money. Did you think I spent my whole life lazing around just because I didn't go to college? I saved some up.”
“Okay. Then I'll buy lunch.”
“You haven't opened a bank account yet, so you don't have any money. It is Sunday, so the bank isn't open either.”
Her signing bonus would be deposited once she opened an account.
“Th-Then tomorrow! As soon as the bank opens tomorrow! I'll buy you something expensive.”
“I'll look forward to it.”
Yerim happily went inside. If it were not for the people sprawled around the entryway, it would have been quite a pleasant sight.
Thunk!
I shut the trunk after loading the few belongings she had, then climbed into the back seat. I made the appropriate responses to Yerim, who was excitedly saying she was finally becoming independent, and took a mana potion from my inventory.
“What is that?”
Yerim tilted her head at the 100-milliliter drink bottle.
“Apple-flavored mana potion.”
There were orange-flavored ones too.
“Mana potion? It looks exactly like one of those fatigue relievers sold at pharmacies.”
“Even the bottle is made entirely from dungeon byproducts. That is why, if you bring empty bottles to the Association, they give you points to use at the Hunter Shopping Mall.”
It was because they could not be stored in an inventory if they were put in ordinary bottles. The empty-bottle return rate was low, so they even ran recycling campaigns aimed at mid- and high-rank Hunters.
Of course, as an F-Class Hunter who had to save every penny, I always brought mine in.
“Are there health potions too?”
“Yep. Want to see one?”
“Yes.”
I took out a health potion that looked the same except for its color and handed it to her. Yerim accepted it and examined it curiously.
“If you drink this, do injuries really heal right away?”
“It is low-grade, so the effect is not that great. Rather than drinking it, people mostly pour it on wounds to stop bleeding and disinfect them.”
“Huh, it only stops bleeding?”
“Do you know how useful it is for bleeding to stop immediately? Besides, even something like that costs ten times as much as a mana potion of the same grade.”
Yerim's eyes widened.
“Not the other way around?”
“Mana potions are factory-made with finely ground mana stones, but health potions are handmade by healers. Even then, it is difficult to stabilize a skill effect in liquid, so they can only make up to mid-grade ones. High-grade health potions and elixirs can only be obtained as dungeon rewards.”
Elixirs in particular were extremely precious, with only a few appearing even as S-Class dungeon rewards. I opened and drank the mana potion as I explained.
I had kept using A Promising Sapling just in case, so I was low on mana. The results were nothing remarkable either. The best result had been a courier with C-Class stats and a D-Class skill.
Finding Yu Myeongu had been an incredibly lucky case. Usually, this was how it went. There were very few B-Class Awakened, let alone S-Class ones.
‘Yerim alone would be enough, but... it would be nice to have a healer.’
They said human greed knew no end. Now that I had combat power, I wanted a healer. Was there an S-Class healer somewhere? No, even an A-Class healer would do. Then I really would not need anything else.
‘All the healers who become famous in the future are foreigners, so I can't exactly go find them.’
For some reason, there had only been B-Class healers in Korea. Haeyeon Guild had made do with B-Class healers before eventually recruiting foreign Hunters.
Still, there had to be some. Should I sit on a chair in a street with heavy foot traffic and search for a few days? Or visit hospitals? More than half of healers came from medical fields, so if I went through hospitals across the country, I might find one or two.
After buying Yerim the shoes, clothes, and other necessities she needed, as well as having lunch, we returned to the guild. Every time I opened my wallet, Park Yerim became flustered and apologized.
It was not as though we had bought expensive things. This much was fine.
“I'll really pay you back for everything!”
“I said it is fine.”
I had checked my balance while updating my bankbook at an ATM on the way, and I had more money than I expected. Even after setting aside money to buy stocks, I had enough to live for around a year without trouble. My biggest expenses, food and lodging, were free. I did not need commuting money either, and aside from my phone bill, communications, gas, electricity, and all other utility costs were free.
My dissatisfaction with having a zero-won salary seemed to be fading.
That diminishing dissatisfaction disappeared completely when I was shown the A-Class Hunter dormitories on the upper floors.
“Daily necessities and groceries may be provided up to a monthly limit of one million won upon a phone or written request to the dormitory management office on the fifteenth floor.”
The female employee in charge of the tour smiled prettily.
“What? You provide those too?”
“It would be inconvenient for you to shop personally, and quarantine is necessary in case of emergencies. You may raise the limit with your own funds.”
They really took good care of A-Class Hunters. Well, considering how much revenue they generated, it made sense to be careful in case they ate something bad and got sick.
“Cleaning and laundry services are provided twice a week as standard. Please separate dry and wet waste and dispose of it in the hallway chutes. Of course, you may also hire a private housekeeper with your own funds.”
They even cleaned and did laundry. I had been greedy to expect a salary after moving into a place like this. I had only ever entered company housing that was a one-room unit for two people, so I thought they would at most give me a spacious private unit with free utilities. I had not expected the service to be this good.
“This is A-15, assigned to Mr. Han Yujin. Miss Park Yerim will be moving into A-16 next door.”
Yerim had not come up with us because she was getting styled for her visit to the Hunter Association tomorrow. Apparently, they would dress her in a way that suited not only her appearance, but also her personality, skills, and Hunter characteristics. As an S-Class, she was practically on par with a celebrity, so it made sense.
...Did Yoohyun get that too? He did dress well.
The employee took out a key card and opened the door. Then she handed the card to me.
“Only one key card is issued. If you wish to have the room cleaned while you are out, please leave it with the management office. The security system is currently reset, so you may enter without the card after registering your fingerprint and password.”
I accepted the key card and stepped inside. The living room that first caught my eye was decorated like a luxury hotel or model home. Sunlight pouring through the wall-sized glass windows was dazzling.
“Please refer to this booklet for other instructions and precautions. An enclosure and safety facilities for the Flame-Horned Lion cub will be installed on Monday. Until then, please do not bring it down to the dormitory.”
“Yes, understood.”
“Also, for safety, a connecting door has been opened to A-16.”
“...Excuse me?”
I had signed a contract to be protected, but was that necessary even here? What about my privacy?
“...I can lock it, right?”
“From A-16, yes.”
The employee answered as though it were obvious. Then what about me? I should go buy a padlock from a hardware store and install it.
“Ugh, I am tired.”
As soon as the employee left and I was alone, I collapsed onto the sofa. I had planned to laze around after regressing, but somehow I had ended up running around busily.
Still, I had more or less settled in now.
‘There is no time limit on the A-Class dormitory, so I won't have to worry about the future.’
Unless dungeons suddenly disappeared and Awakening powers vanished. ...I really should prepare for retirement. Dungeons had appeared suddenly, so you never knew.
After lying face-down for a while, I fished out my phone. The new Hunter training date had been set, so I should contact Myeongu. He had not had any bad thoughts again in the meantime, had he?
After a few rings, Yu Myeongu answered.
“Hello...”
[The owner of this phone can't take your call right now.]
Huh? That was not Yu Myeongu's voice. Then the call cut off.
What was going on? Why could my precious owner of an SS-Class Crafting Skill not answer the phone?
Footnotes:
The Korean saying rendered as “you cannot even drink cold water in front of children” means adults must watch their behavior because children copy what they see.
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